In the most recent NCAA GOALS study , 16% of student-athletes reported being first-generation college students (defined here as neither parent having attended college). Who is most likely to be a first-generation student? Division II...

For better or worse, living arrangements profoundly impact every student’s college experience. Because compatibility with roommates is recognized as a key factor in academic success, college satisfaction, mental well-being and transfer decisions, the days of randomly assigning roommates are over at many colleges.

Division I student-athletes who earn a bachelor’s degree prior to exhausting their athletics eligibility may go on to compete as graduate students for another school provided they meet certain criteria (NCAA Bylaw 14.6.1) or obtain an NCAA waiver...

Recently we published a word cloud that displayed how a national sample of NCAA student-athletes described the best part of their college experience . The NCAA GOALS survey also included an opportunity for student-athletes to comment on...

The 2010 NCAA GOALS survey gave student-athletes an open-ended opportunity to complete that sentence. This word cloud highlights the 75 most commonly used words 12,000 NCAA student-athletes included in their responses. The most frequently...

With the top prospect (A’ja Wilson) of the 2014 women’s basketball recruiting class recently choosing to stay close to home to play college ball, we decided to examine the relocation distances of elite women’s basketball recruits Among the...

Nearly one-quarter of students who attend Division III colleges participate in NCAA athletics. An important part of the mission of the division is to ensure that these student-athletes have a comprehensive college experience, engage fully...

When we survey NCAA student-athletes about their expectations of moving on to professional athletics careers, the results indicate surprising confidence in that possibility. This is apparent in many sports (see table below), but most...

Previous studies have noted elite athletes worldwide in sports including ice hockey, soccer, tennis and baseball have birth dates that cluster in certain periods of the year. It is believed this occurs because the oldest children in each...

Academic policy changes targeting baseball over the last 10 years have led to significant increases in Division I Academic Progress Rates (APRs) and Graduation Success Rates (GSRs) for the sport. APRs in baseball have risen steadily from...

The majority of NCAA student-athletes (62% of women and 53% of men) very strongly identify as both students and athletes. In other words, it is clear student-athlete identity does not refer to a single continuum with high identity as a...

What does it cost an institution to run a Division II athletics program? Turns out whether or not you sponsor the sport of football makes a substantial difference. The new 2013 Division II Revenues and Expenses Report reveals the following...

The Division I Graduation Success Rate (GSR) has risen by more than 13% since 2002. That sounds impressive, but what does it actually mean? Since the average size of recent GSR cohorts is about 23,500 student-athletes, an increase of 1%...